'Tis a Fine Irrrish Day, It Is!


Hello Everyone!

        While the East Coast of the United States has been storm-bound, Ireland has been basking in unusually warm weather for this time of year.  From a low of 54 degrees at night, it will go all the way up to 57 degrees in the day.  The weather forecast is for "extended periods of partly cloudy skies," which is as close as they can get to "clear."  We really have had some nice days with little rain.  The daffodils are blooming in front of the house.  The bad news is that storms over the Eastern US eventually find their way to Ireland:  this is the first real landfall after coming across the Atlantic, so we are keeping the umbrellas handy. 

       An old Irish gentleman in the ward was explaining the Irish way of saying things.  The Irish always give the answer before the question is asked.  "Ye are well this mornin', are ye?"  "Goin' to the store, are ye?"  "This is where church is held, is it?"  It's just the way Yoda would say it:  "You want to become a Jedi, do you?"  We have also learned that when we are low on fuel in the car, we go to get petrol, not gas.  Gas is something you get at Taco Time.

       While we are on that subject, we must tell you our petrol (actually, diesel) story.  On the drive to Belfast (described below), we kept looking for cheaper fuel prices because we heard they were possible, and as we neared Belfast we finally saw a very low price, so we pulled over.  We had found the best price around!  The problem was that we had forgotten we had crossed into Northern Ireland where the currency is the Pound Sterling, not the Euro.  The prices were in Pounds, not Euros.  We didn't have any Pounds, so we had to exchange some money at a terrible rate.  Add that to the fact that the fuel prices in Northern Ireland are much higher than in the Republic of Ireland, and it turns out we didn't get a bargain at all.  If you look up the exchange rates and do the math, you will see that we ended up paying almost twice as much as we should have.  Chalk that one up to experience!  Just don't ask us to manage your investments.  But bet we don't do that twice!

        We are not sure where we left off in last week's letter, but we'll start with Monday night.  We were scheduled to teach with the Elders, but the appointment fell through.  After waiting for a while, we invited them over to our "cottage" for a snack.  They were joined by the other set of Elders in the ward, and after they had a snack, they said that they needed to go to the grocery store, so we took them.  In the grocery store, we decided that we really should feed them because they looked hungry.  (We think one of the MTC classes should be:  "how to put on the 'hungry look'".)  We picked up a few groceries ourselves and hurried home, where Grandma,  put together an absolutely wonderful meal.  Besides being a very good cook, she can be a very good, very fast, cook.  By this time the Sisters had showed up as well, so we ended up feeding all six of them.  During the meal, a girl from Slovakia who is here to find a job showed up, and she ate a little as well.  We got talking so long that Grandpa had to drive the Elders home, and Grandma stayed behind to visit with the girl from Slovakia.  By the time she left, we realized we hadn't eaten, (we didn't try out our faith to feed the 5000)  so we broke all the diet rules and had a late snack.  Just another night at the ol' homestead.  Fine night, it was!

      Tuesday turned out to be a long day, because we were preparing for our important meeting with the Dublin Stake Bishops, Stake Presidency, High Council, and their wives.  We had originally offered to feed them a meal, but they had to choose a later time and some couldn't come, so Grandma prepared a carrot cake to sweeten them up before we hit them with Self Reliance.  She is not confident about her recipes working  here but things are starting to work better and this was quite a success.  One of the High Councilors said, "This is to die for," as he went back for his third piece.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time polishing off our presentation during the day, but had less time than we thought we would because the Elders had asked us to teach twice in the afternoon.  The first was a no-show, but the second one was with our friend Daniel, whom we have taught before.  The session ended up going for more than an hour.  We all had very high hopes that we could get a baptismal commitment.  He seems so intelligent and interested, and we thought that the Spirit would move him to accept.  The Elders have done a wonderful job with him, and we are so impressed by their spiritual preparation.  One night we went over early, and the Elders were calling the other missionaries in the district to ask them to pray that Daniel might accept baptism.  We have seen these Elders bear fervent testimony and teach the doctrine so well.  What wonderful young men!  Daniel said that he needed more time to learn more, so we set up another appointment.

        Because that teaching session went long, we had to hurry to get the treats for YSA Institute put together (thankfully, there were some left over from Sunday night's broadcast gathering).  We barely got time to stick our heads into Institute class, and then start getting ready for the big meeting with the leaders.  By the time we got the TV hooked up and the carrot cake in place, we really didn't have much time to catch our breath.  The good news is that the presentation seemed to go very well (we are quite a team in a teaching situation!), and think they seemed to catch the vision of what needs to be done.  We followed the presentation with a set of "first step" commitments for each of them to make.  We are trying to follow the Self-Reliance pattern, which always involves a commitment after the principles are taught.  Learn-Ponder-Commit-Use Resources-Report.  We sent them home with the first of a series of packets we will send to them monthly to be used as resource material for short training sessions in their councils.  We know that it takes the big train a while to leave the station, but we are trying to be patient, and we are a little more encouraged.  After the bishops meeting was over, we rushed to the table to salvage at least two pieces of the carrot cakes for ourselves before those who were "circling" finished them off. 

       Wednesday morning we were able to sit in on a couple of hours of Zone Conference.  It was so good to see President Donaldson again, and we are really impressed with the Elders and Sisters.  President Donaldson is such a humble, loving man, belying the fact that he was once Amateur Boxing Champion for England.  He stood in front of the missionaries and said, "I need to apologize to you, and ask your forgiveness."  Evidently, one of the Stake Presidents in the mission wanted to show his appreciation for the hard work of the missionaries by taking one of the districts to "Star Wars."  President Donaldson felt from the beginning that it wasn't a good idea, but because he wanted his missionaries to feel appreciated, he yielded to the Stake President's request.  The problem came when other districts got wind of it, and went to the same movie - without permission.  As the president told this story, there we no recrimination, only his apology.  He said it was his fault, and he asked their forgiveness.  What a wonderful way to teach elders!

       We left the zone conference early to drive to Belfast (about 2 hours) for another bishops and branch presidents meeting.  On the way, we stopped for a short visit to "New Grange", which is a Stonehenge-like site out in the country.  It was very interesting to see the "monolithic" tombs built thousands of year ago, and the countryside is absolutely beautiful.  There is a great museum and tours, and we would like to go back when we have more time.  Once you leave the main roads, you begin to see the Ireland you read about:  lots of green everywhere, rivers, quaint old houses, churches, castles.  It is charming!   

      In Belfast, we repeated the presentation we had given in Dublin.  It was a little harder sell this time, (maybe because we didn't take cake?) but, by the time it was over, we felt good about it.  Most of the unit leaders seemed enthused, and we were a little more encouraged in this stake, as well.  We understand how easy it is to stay with routines, and not really get launched into new programs even if we can see how they will help build the kingdom.  Change and improvement are hard and a little slow whether it is for ourselves or for the church as a whole.   We resolved to renew our efforts to get in touch with the stake specialists (we had a bad phone number) and go back to Belfast to meet with them as soon a possible.  The Bishops' meeting didn't get started until after 8:00, so by the time we visited with some Bishops afterward, we didn't get on the road for the two-hour drive home until almost 10:00.  We were tired by the time we pulled into our flat.

      Thursday, after our almost-daily trip to IKEA (I KEY in Ireland) to get the couches we had ordered for the YSA room (some day we'll bore you with a lecture on poor customer service - this was our third trip, and still no couches) we met with the Elders to teach Daniel one more time before he headed for home.  The Elders were going to talk about the temple, but Daniel came with questions about Sabbath Day observance, and we never got to the more important lesson that he needed to learn.  As time ran out, the Elders asked him once again to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this was the time for baptism.  We had a long kneeling prayer together, and he replied:  "Not yet, I need to learn more."  We could tell that the Elders were very disappointed, but they didn't let it deter them.  We all told Daniel goodbye because he was leaving for home in Bolivia, and assured him that we loved him and wanted him to find the Church at home.  In analyzing the whole experience we are not sure where Daniel is coming from.  It is no doubt hard to get the courage to commit to change your life so much, but it could be that he has some things in his life that need to be cleared up before he can really feel the Spirit.  At any rate, we are going to write him and try to keep some contact.

      Right after our teaching session with Daniel, three of the YSA leaders came for a pre-arranged planning meeting.  We had made cinnamon rolls for a treat, but realized when they got here that they came directly from their college classes and hadn't eaten dinner, so we took them to the grocery store with us, bought the fixin's, and Grandma cooked up another wonderful (and fast) meal.  She's pretty good at this!  After the meal, we had a long meeting that went until 10:30.  We need to help these young leaders see what can be done through direct fellowshipping and missionary work, and not so much as just do the big expensive things, but  again, patience is the key.  We'll just have to show them what can be accomplished if you really set your mind to it.  By the time the meeting ended, the city buses had stopped running, so we had to take one of the group to his home downtown (about 20 minutes each way).  It gave us a good chance to visit with him, get to know him a little better, and help him catch the vision.  We were up late again, but it was a good chance to talk with him.  We remember the ride home because that's when we returned Deven's phone call to hear about the flooding at home---again!!.  We are so sorry that they have had to deal with this!  As spring comes, we probably need to look at an even better, permanent solution, even if it is costly.  We feel badly for Deven and Janeen (and their daughters with the flooded bedroom.)  We are grateful it wasn't too bad.

       Friday morning we had one of those small miracles that makes missionary work so rewarding.  We had been trying to get in touch with the Stake Self Reliance Specialists in Belfast for a long time, with no success.  Seemingly "out of the blue" on Friday, we received an email from a member of the stake presidency  that provided the one bit of information we needed to correct the phone number.  We dialed it, and Brother Bowen answered.  He was so glad to hear from us, and it was just in time.  He was so discouraged that he was getting ready to "resign" from this calling in a few days.    We told him to hold on, and we would be there as soon as we could.  We arranged to drive to Belfast on Sunday, go to church with them, eat a meal at their home, and talk about Self-Reliance afterward. 

      Friday was a "catch-up" day on all the paperwork that had been piling up after our training meetings.  We had follow-up emails, letters to leaders to write, organization of our notes from the meetings, and planning for future meetings.  And what a paperwork day it was!  We sat down at the computers about noon, and finished the last of the correspondence around midnight.  Except for a few minutes to grab lunch, we were essentially at the computers all day.  We're not sure how much it rained that day because we never got out of the house.  We are feeling a little more caught up now, but we feel it is very important to follow up quickly with our presentations and assignments so that the "spark" doesn't go out for the stake leaders.

     During our morning run on Saturday (our running route takes us around the perimeter of the largest cemetery in Dublin, but we're not dying to actually go inside the cemetery), we passed a dumpster with a really nice framed glass window in it.  We determined that we could use it for a green house (we think it would be fun to try to grow vegetables in a land with no sun), so after taking care of some errands to the post office and other places, we went back and did some "dumpster diving" to retrieve the glass.  It now sits safely in our back yard, awaiting the onset of spring to make it into something in which plants will thrive.  We can almost taste the fresh tomatoes already!  Wish us luck!

    Saturday evenng we were scheduled to teach an investigator with the sisters, but after a long wait with no show, we determined that it was dinner time for the sisters, and - you guessed it - Grandma cooked up another wonderful (and fast) meal for them. To be honest, they declined at first, but came over for some medicine and just sat on the couch looking too tired to go home.   We had a good visit and took them home afterward.  The average weight of the elders and sisters in this district has gone up 5 pounds since Sister Pettit arrived. 

     Sunday morning we drove to Belfast in time to attend the Bangor 1st Ward with Brother and Sister Bowen (SR specialists).  What delightful people!  They are from South Africa, have lived in Ireland for 13 years, and are so easy and fun to be around.  After church we went to their very nice little home for dinner (Grandma had cooked a knock-out chocolate pudding cake with whipped cream for dessert.)  We visited with them after dinner for about two hours.  That was the most exciting meeting we have had since we got here!  We left very pumped up.  They know the SR program very well, and have been trying so hard to make it go, and have received virtually no leader support.  They were very discouraged, and ready to quit, as mentioned above.  We had just a wonderful brainstorming session with them about ways that we can make this thing go, and outlined a very definitive path forward. We feel so strongly that the timing of our previous meeting and the growth from that, combined with the meeting with the Bowens is very orchestrated by the Lord's hand.   We are certainly going to be spending some time in Belfast (which, by the way, is a very nice city.)  At one point in the meeting, Sister Bowen got very emotional in explaining how alone they had felt until we got there.  I think the four of us really can work together to get things moving forward.  We already have one ward training set up, and Brother Bowen is doing some calling to set up more right away.  The two hour drive home was late again, but it went quickly because we were still pumped up and kept bouncing new ideas off of each other.  What a blessing that trip to Belfast was!

     So, that brings us back to Monday again.  After our regular trip to IKEA (today was a little more fruitful) -the couches were actually in stock this time, and since we had previously been given such a run around, they are going to deliver them for free!  They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow - we'll see if that really happens), we returned to prepare a dinner for a young couple from Brazil.  She is a member and he isn't, but has started reading the Book of Mormon on his own, and she is very anxious that he start the missionary lessons again.  We fed them dinner, had a FHE lesson (temple marriage was the topic), and played games.  They are very bright and they surely need to be sealed in the temple.  When he joins the Church (which we feel he will), that will happen.  For now, it will be fun just to do things with them.  The left-over chocolate pudding cake from yesterday made my night.  (Grandma says that Grandpa "wolfed it down.")

      This missionary work is fun, because it is so easy to see the Lord's hand in it.  Every day there are miracles, big and small.  We got to listen to a recording of the special world-wide training for missionaries, and it was wonderful.  The Lord is directing this Work as it fills the earth.  There are prophets and apostles on the earth.  The priesthood has been restored, and the Gospel in its fullness is here.  What more could we want? 

      We are so very grateful for your love and support.  We hope that we can be the kind of missionaries you would want us to be.

 

       Love,

         Elder and Sister Pettit

          Grandpa and Grandpa

           Mother and Dad

            Sister and Brother

             Leprechauns in training.  Aye!

 On the motorway to Belfast:  Not quite the Washington DC temple, but cool looking old church.

 This is New Grange.  Older than the Pyramids, circular monolithic tomb on horizon in center.

 Bridge over the River Boyne near New Grange.  Person in the picture is older than the Pyramids.

 Bridge over the River Boyne near visitors center at New Grange.

 Entrance to Visitor's Center at New Grange.  (bor-ing)

 Motorway bridge over the River Boyne. (Look up the Battle of  Boyne and St. Patrick in Wikipedia.)

 

 Coming into Belfast.  Don't ask what it is, because we don't know.  Nobody does.  Not Epcot.

 Road sign.  The traffic is on the other side of the road, so should we read the signs from right to left?

 

 Here's the big golf ball in Belfast again.

Nice Irish family outside the chapel in Bangor (by Belfast).  The daughter is going on a mission to Belgium tomorrow.

 

 

 Dublin City Center Post Office--checking on a mail concern.  It really is a nice big building. 

           Out to lunch at Murrays with"missionary" friends, the Exons from Idaho.  "Missionaries"   because they made their own 6 month call to Ireland.  The church couldn't call them because of health concerns.  Aren't WE lucky to be here.   We had the best ribs!  We'll take you if you come. 

One Month and Counting

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Lynne Pettit

                                                                         

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From:	Lynne Pettit (lynnepettit@msn.com)
Sent:

Dear Family and Friends,
We are laughing a little at our title this week.. only 22 months left.   We remember as missionary parents how we would mark the charts so diligently--especially at the first...and the time seemed to go by so slowly at the first of the kids' missions.  It seemed like the pyramid of time was close to marking the time until the end of eternity,  and it was very long in between letters,---- and that was when the letters actually came regularly!   But after awhile, we got used to knowing they were gone and the time seemed to speed up.  Now we are on this end and feeling a little the same.  We usually have to think a minute to know what day of the week it is because we are always in Sunday clothes and of course always working on "church" things.   We haven't been able to establish a regular P-day when we feel we can really do whatever we want, so we aren't really marking the weeks with a day out either--but we are managing to know when to go to church and we get our laundry done.   We find ourselves at the grocery store pretty often because we seem to be doing as so many missionary couples...cooking, but we don't really mind. 

This week we have been working quite hard to finish some materials for the stakes where we are meeting and presenting Self Reliance trainings but we have also had some great experiences working with the elders and sisters.  We are so lucky to be able to do this and see the miraculous work happening right here.  The church in Ireland really needs to grow, so it is fun to experience it.  Sometimes we feel amazed that the investigators are accepting the gospel so sincerely. 

 

To share a few stories, we met again with Marcio, who is the accounting major.  He wants to know where the golden plates are and have some evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon, because he says if the Book of Mormon is true, htne the whole Church is true.  Smart conclusion!      I decided to should tell him the Martin Harris, John E. Godfrey story---that there were some who did see and feel the plates and see and hear the angel, but that keeping the plates in a museum would just cause a lot of trouble, so they were taken away.  He seemed to really appreciate the testimony and is so good to keep coming back to learn more. He also wants to know why if the church is true, are there so few members throughout the world.  We talked to him about how quickly the church IS growing, and fulfilling prophecy.  He is smart and cautious and we respect that.   He has such great questions.

 

We also met with Daniel.  It is surprising that he is 38 and single.  He has been in business in Brazil, and came here to study and help start up a branch of the business he works for.  He is also so sharp and understands the Bible very well.  The elders have taught him several lessons, and this one was on the Word of Wisdom.  We actually thought that he would have a problem with it (Brazilians like their coffee!), but, as it ended up, he started comparing the Word of Wisdom to the Mosiac health law found in Leviticus.  He wanted to know if we restricted our meat intake according to Old Testament rules.  It was cool to see him with the Old Testament open on one knee, and the 89th Section open on the other knee!  He really could be a strong leader in the Church, but we are going to have to hurry since he is leaving for home on the 28th of this month.  We saw him in church on Sunday, and he was dressed just like a Branch President (whatever that is like!)  I think we should fill up the baptismal font, have him stand next to it, sneak up on him, push him in, and call it good.

 

We drove to Limerick, southern Ireland on Saturday, quoting Limerick verses all the way. (not really, but maybe next time).   We left the "flat" at 7:15 in the morning, arrived at the Limerick District Center (same as a Stake Center without the meat), met for 2 hours with the District Self Reliance Committee, attended a baptism right afterwards, and then went to a 2-hour District Council meeting right after that.  And to think that Grandpa said that he didn't want to sit in any more meetings!  Seriously, the Limerick district is leading the rest of the country as far as their progress with Self-Reliance.  The stake committee is well organized, and have enough faith to re-group and try again after some initial failures.  It is really impressive.  We keep offering to help in any way that we can, but they are certainly not having us do it all.  We are excited about what they are doing, and are really close to starting a pilot effort at using technology to reach the rural areas and cut down on travel time.  We will keep you posted as that project progresses.  We really need to work on the District leadership to give them a vision of self-reliance.  

 

 There are some great castles down in Limerick that we want to stop and see sometime, but the weather was of course rainy, foggy, and  cold and we had things to get done back in Dublin, so we didn't linger in Limerick, other than that we went to dinner with Pres. Ryan and his daughter.  They are so fun and so genuine.    We felt blessed that just the day before the roads were quite icy, but the temps raised a few degrees, so although the fog was a little slow, we were safe.  The fog looked like a really spooky movie scene, the quaintness or Dracula's hometown or something. 

 

On Sunday, we wondered about attending another ward we should get to know too, but decided to support a few things here, like a new baptized member and some investigators.  We were really glad we did.  We went to the Gospel Principles lesson where the new members and investigators go and there were 5 strong investigators there.  One girl came for the first time and even bore her testimony how the Lord had been helping here get settled in Ireland and even led her to the missionaries.  It was so fun.  Another young married couple were there and I asked her if they had been married in the temple.  It was my way of discovering if her husband was a member.  She of course told me he was not but she welcomed the idea of starting lessons with him again because now he is reading the B of M of his own and coming to church.  We will start lessons with them this week. 

 

On Sunday, we had the YSA Broadcast of President and Sister Nelson.  The fireside message was so good.  We recommend you all take the time to see it on the church site.  Pres. Nelson talked about the Millennials, which applies to all of you grandchildren and youth in general. HIs message was really practical and helpful to us as well.  And we loved the part in Sister Nelson's  talk about George Q. Cannon.  We had about 20 YSA  come, which isn't bad, but we didn't know how many to expect,(hoped for more)  so we had too much food made.  The kids really enjoyed staying around awhile and are looking forward to us offering the leftovers at institute tomorrow.  We told them we would, but we wondered if the word got out because this evening the 2 sets of elders showed up at our house pretty close to dinner time.  We had been planning all day to go try a restaurant (pub) we had heard about, but didn't know if it was expensive or not so we couldn't offer to take them with us, so we decided to feed them at home.  We just got it cooked when the Sisters showed up---the miracle of the loaves and fished, since we hadn't planned for it at all!    We could have fed them the leftovers but it was easier to start on a new menu than plan again for institute group-- since they are planning on it, we couldn't let them down.

 

Of course everything is not easy and people are not lining up to learn about the church--everyone is having to work hard and be bold, but it is great to see it happening.  We are having to work hard to be creative to show the importance of the Self Reliance program ---especially since it didn't get a good start the first round.  And we have a lot to do to find a lot of lost young people to come to YSA, and not lose their faith.   We had a young girl come to our door wanting help with deep depression, and there are not easy fixes for her, but we are doing what we can to serve however we are needed everyday.   We really need and appreciate your prayers. 

 

We love you all.  We are glad we also know that Heavenly Father loves you all--and watches over you.  Stay strong.

Hugs and Kisses,

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Your Friends Elder and Sister Pettit

p.s.  no significant pix this week.  ( we will do better)

‏

Ireland Update

  

A few of the happy ice skating group

You can't tell how wet he is getting!

So many flowers - just for January

Notice how densely the grave markers are placed

A typical Celtic cross

Cemetery guard tower to keep out grave robbers (long ago)

                                                    

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

From:	Lynne Pettit (lynnepettit@msn.com)
Sent:	11 January 2016 16:48:04

Dear Family and Friends,
It has been fun getting your letters this week and catching up on some of the things that are happening in your lives.  Thank you for the time it means out of your busy lives.  We hope you all are staying healthy and happy and feeling many blessings in your families. 

Another week of mission work has  passed with a pretty broad range of activities for us.  Our assignment to train the stakes in Self Reliance is a little tough to see significant  momentum increase, but we did make a little more progress this week.  On Tuesday we met with our Mission President's counselor and wife to get their input on some of our plans for moving things forward.  The meeting time was set up for 11:30 (half eleven) at our house, so naturally having lunch ready made it a little nicer time together.   He is very supportive of our moving ahead on getting some of the classes organized as broadcast classes, and gave his insight of what might work best, based on what has been used in the mission for distance conferencing.  We were glad to have his support for this, and made contact with the District who will likely use it most.  Although this may be a good solution for other parts of Ireland, we think we will just pilot it in the Limerick District. 

This week-end we are going down to Limerick, the southern part of Ireland,  to meet with the District SR committee and the District Council for much of the day.  We have been working for the last two weeks on our presentation, which includes our new power point project.   We have thought we pretty much had it completed about 4 times, but maybe it will be in a constant state of upgrading as we use it and see its growing needs.  

Tuesday night we met shortly with the Dublin Stake High Council and Auxiliary Council.  Our main assignment was to introduce ourselves and what we are going to be doing, but we pushed it a little further and requested a meeting be set for just two weeks out where we can do a leadership training night.  We offered to host a dinner for leaders and spouses, and it seemed to be the carrot that was needed to get an earlier date set.  It seemed like a reasonable offer, but then we remembered both our apartment oven and the church oven combined are not as big as a regular American oven, so we are brainstorming ways to feed a hot dinner to about 60 with limited equipment.  We are having to compromise a little, but we think we can still make it nice.  We are so lucky that our apartment is part of the stake facility center so that we can add an enticement because the Stake is quite satisfied with their version of the program, which isn't much more than renaming the employment program.  Unfortunately, what was given initially was not really understood well enough to bring 'conversion' and certainly not success, so we feel we are having to promote a whole new start.  There is understandably a reluctance to give it  a high priority now.  There is always so much for leadership to do.

We won't try to "sell" you (yet) on the important steps Self Reliance takes to begin building  Zion, but it is  truly founded on inspired doctrine and principles.  Our challenge has been to take all the materials and doctrines, some  of which we are discovering for ourselves as we study scripture, and weaving it into a "digestible"  initiative with practical steps that will help it succeed this time. 

After the stake  council meeting we also met with the Stake Counselor over YSA to get things going again for the Youth.  He was very nice and they are happy that we can be a support, since YSA  has diminished so much in the last 6-8 months.  This area, Dublin, is a big youth center in the Republic of Ireland.  There are big universities here that bring students from all over the world, which makes it a fertile field for sharing the gospel.  The trick is to keep them active.  There are far more converts that are not Irish than Irish themselves.  Many of them are only here for 2-5 years, but their conversions will affect the world.   So while they are here, the program needs to be strong.  The YSA center here is not an officially designated, funded center, but maybe should be, and the local leaders are great to give it importance. 

One of the outcomes of the meeting was a decision to replace the furniture in the YSA room.  The kids wanted us to ask for it, but  we worried about it because we didn't want to represent a big budget item at our first meeting. Never-the-less we did so that we could offer a new image.   It was approved (with a pretty low allowance to spend--and we wondered if they gave us that amount to show it wouldn't be possible to get new)   As we thought about it, we felt that maybe we should try to fix it first and then give them options of keeping  the repaired  old, or get new.  So we went to the DIY store and bought a drill etc. and spent the next morning fixing the broken leg.  We also combined filling for the throw pillows --which reduced the number of pillows to half, did some serious cleaning, and redid the bulletin boards.  Then we took pictures of the improvements, and pictures of new sofa options and sent them to the stake leaders.  Another brother was encouraged by the improvement and offered then to add a welded metal reinforcement to the furniture for a few hundred dollars.   The final decision is still up in the air, but it looks like the new will be chosen.

With a few more meetings, a few assists with missionary teaching sessions, speaking in Sacrament Meeting, and general activities, we worked through what is probably a pretty normal week, except for ice skating with the YSA on Saturday.   THAT was a really different experience.  About 14 youth got on board with one girl's idea to go ice skating and so of course we joined them.  We were so surprised to see what that meant here.  The rink is outside at a carnival type park, complete with Lagoon style rides.  We decided that Irish people keep the fun going during the winter for a few reasons.  One the winter is not severe cold, but two, it maybe doesn't get much better ever!  They even were enjoying the log plume style water ride!  Everyone was dressed really warmly and buying carnival foods and lining up for ice skating.  The line was long--about 30 minutes, and it started to rain a little but no one bailed.  It cost 15 Euro/hour  ($15) for a very small rink, very bad ice, dull hockey skates, and by the time we were on the ice it was seriously raining.  The kids were excited  though none of them were a bit good at it.  It was mostly walk-slide around in a small circle and get quite wet!  They were impressed that we would skate too and not just watch, but we were so glad to be done.  Our plan was to get finished in time to go to a baptism in a nearby town, but the traffic was horrible, so we were glad we had a valid reason to go home and get dry and warm. 

We are discovering more and more that we are really blessed to live where we do.  We are able to eat mostly at home which saves us so much money.  We don't have to drive every day, or ride a bus, which is also expensive, and we are close to the church with things happening there.  On Sunday we had a couple join us for dinner after church who came to Ireland for a mission of their own choice because they didn't meet the health requirements and will stay just 6 months.  They are really nice and helping as they can--but we appreciate that we have it so good, and their  situation is much more costly and less comfortable.  We are seeing that most recreation costs about $10, so we are happy to discover things on our own that are for now just fun to experience.   Hence you are seeing us combining our exercise with our fun and not looking too official in some of the pictures.  One of our adventures was a quick stop at the cemetery across the street.  It is so big, so old, so Celtic, so dense, and so decorated with flowers.  We jog around it and some other areas, so we have been interested in it.  Many people are there every day, so we took a better look.  We really thought the sign on the wall was interesting!

We are being blessed to stay healthy and feeling the Lord's blessings in our work.  Things are not moving along with speed, but we realize that is not uncommon with building the kingdom anytime, or anyplace.   We are grateful for many things--especially your love and support.  We hope you feel our love for you, and hope you feel great blessings in your lives too. 

We send our LOVE and pray for you ALWAYS!
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa 

Pictures 1-4-16

1-4-2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow a year has passed and it doesn’t seem like more than a few weeks! 

Yes, we did survive the New Year here in Ireland and hope you all have had a nice close to the holidays as well.  At home we know  it is always a little hard to get past all the irregular schedules as much as you look forward to it all year, so we hope that things are now comfortably settling into a great start of a new calendar year for you.  Thank you for your letters and sharing.  We hope things are doing well at home.

Things have been a little slow here for us the past week, because everyone is "on holiday"  but we have stayed active and with everything so different from home, it really has not seemed like the nostalgic holiday to miss.  Of course we think of all of you and wish we could have been  there to give hugs for Porter's, Lydia's, and Briel's Birthdays and especially for Lincoln's Baptism day.  We were glad we could call and visit with each of you and hope these were special days for you.  We love each of you so much!

The weather here in Dublin is staying much the same.  For ,us it means it rains a lot here and the flowers love it!  Rain means we still don't clearly know which direction we are going much of the time.  Today we saw some rare blue skies and it was great since we were out early this morning (4:30 a.m.) to pick up the Elders and get downtown to line up for getting our "Guarda Card" (immigration pass).  The office opened at 8:00 but we wanted to shorten the process of being among hundreds in line.  We stood outside in fairly nice temperatures for January, (it was supposed to rain this morning--but didn't!)   but we still got a bit cold after so long.  We were able to get some hot chocolate later on that helped us endure, and we felt really blessed that we were numbers 13 and 14 and it only took two more hours after they opened!!  We passed all the paperwork and fingerprint hoops and now are legal until 2017.   

The weather for the native folk means craziness!  We are assured that this is not normal and that this is the WORST possible weather ever.   You may have heard of flooding problems in all of Europe and it is affecting Ireland, just not here as far as we know.  Limerick Stake is southern Ireland (not to be confused politically as the opposite of Northern Ireland--and north western Ireland is not part of Northern Ireland!)  Living here, we have found they are very sensitive to those differences.  We have to be careful when we talk of location.      ---Anyway, Limerick and the south have had a lot of flooding,--- and even lately evacuations.  And in Scotland, we hear that fairly major roads have been washed away.  They say it is all the tail spin of the hurricanes hitting the east coast of U.S., and surely a sign of the times.   Today, since it was sunny, we saw the groundskeepers at Trinity College mowing the lawn!  It was too wet of course, but it needed it, and it looked so funny when we realized it is January 4th!  Happy Birthday Mother!

Our activities this week have been very varied.  We had a planning meeting with the YSA leaders, but until we meet with the Stake leaders and even Mission leaders we are just getting ideas.---Except that we did plan a New Years Party.   The YSA used to be very active with about 30 Young Adults participating twice a week, but the consensus is that it was too much, so now we don't have many coming.  The New Years Party was at a guys apartment in downtown Dublin to accommodate travel issues because the buses wouldn't run late, but there were not many there.  We took a lot of food: pulled pork, fruit, treats, and drinks and we thought how lucky we are that we have a car, quite unlike Kent and Patrice who had to bus it to everything they did!  We took our card games and the kids seemed to really like it.  We watched the New Year celebrations of London and thought we should be there next year since it seemed so beautiful.  We didn't feel like we stayed late, but with travel and all we crawled in bed at 2 a.m.

Earlier in the week, we had a great meeting with a Self Reliance Specialist, Noel Barnes, from the Limerick District.  He came to Dublin to bring his daughter shopping and so he had a lot of time available.  We had him for lunch and then we were able to discuss more of the progress and plans their district is making.  We are so impressed with their efforts and determination.  They started the program about a year ago as directed, but it just didn't succeed.  We feel this is mostly not any fault of theirs.  The need is great, but the program is so new, their branches are so small, and the  distances are so difficult.  We knew it was an issue, but as we learned more fully what a commitment it would take for members to participate, it is a wonder they would even try.  They are not giving up, but to hold classes, many of the people would have to travel as much as 3 hours each way, have the class for 2 hours and return another 3 hours.  Of course it could only happen on a Saturday, but we can't imagine being able to give anyone enough incentive to sacrifice to that extent.----So the three of us came upon the idea of holding classes through Skype or some other remote system.   Of course we don't know if, or how things will work out, but it seems like Dad's experience in teaching a few Distant Ed classes at USU may not have been a coincidence. of experience.  It is just so great to see the faith of these good people in trying to implement this program.

Prior to our visit with Noel we had been studying extensively to more fully internalize the Self Reliance program so that we could prepare for the presentations we have coming up.  We feel that our opportunities to represent the program need to be as powerful as possible so that the saints will really catch the vision.  All the stakes have been introduced and so far not been able to get a good start, so we will probably not have many more chances to build testimonies of its importance.  (With no pun intended)  we decided to make a power point presentation to use along with our teaching.   The Limerick committee had had the same idea.  They have also been working so hard to bring success to their district and made a power point as well.   We both shared/traded ideas and we were able to incorporate some new insights from their "first failure" that we feel will really help other stakes who have not had a failure yet because they have not progressed that far.  We were so blessed to get their perspective on how to really use the ward/branch council to make this program work.  We came up the concept of using a gears model to represent the need of working together to make forward progress and we are quite excited about it.  The more we study, the more we see that this is not a new program at all, just the fulfillment of the continuous effort of the gospel to establish Zion.

Coming up this week we have meetings with our Dublin stake and next week the Belfast stake.  We hope we can help them get the vision and begin to make progress as well.  

In addition to this work, we have been helping a little by attending some investigator discussions with the Elders and Sisters.  It is wonderful how they have been able to find young people (many from Brazil) who have come to Ireland to study English and who are interested in the gospel.  They have such faith from the very beginning---to commit to baptism dates and make a great effort to come and be taught.  We also went to a baptism on Saturday night, and plan for one again next week of young people who have gained full testimonies and want to change their lives.  At church almost everyone is a convert and even many who have only been members a few years are so radiant and full of doctrine and faith.  It is a testimony builder to get to know them.   In our ward there is a deaf group and signing of the meetings.  The signs are a little different but close enough for me to communicate some.   They are a very excited, happy group.  How lucky that we can associate with them.   After fast  meeting they had a "chew and chat" so we brought quite a bit of food.  We had left over pork from the YSA to share, so we just got more rolls and brought some other things to help make it fun.   The "chew" was more than the "chat" and it went fast so we had to eat when we got home--but that was fine.  

We are finding that our time is very flexible.  We have some specific time commitments, but we also have a lot of freedom too.  When we are tired of studying--or out and about for other things we have been doing a few fun things.  On New Years Day we took the Elders to a member's for dinner that was quite far away so we decided to make it an outing for ourselves.  We found a castle near there to go see.  Unfortunately it was not open but we explored around the grounds.  It had beautiful rock walled gardens.   It seemed like a movie scene--maybe, The Secret Garden.   They had apple trees growing on horizontal flat wires like grapes--not bushy at all, and other exotic plants.  We saw a tree that was almost creepy!  Look it up.  It is called a Monkey Puzzle from Argentina.  Ben have you seen them?   Its branches look like tails all twisting around.  Its origami-folded shaped leaves are very sharp.  We think no dinosaur would try to set them!  Then why would it be an endangered species?

On Saturday day, our chosen P-day for the week, we decided to make our morning exercise a hike adventure.  We drove to the coast and hiked along the mountainside with the beautiful cliffs below overlooking the Irish Sea.  It was rather rainy--of course, so it was quite muddy, but there were others doing the same.  The Irish people dress warmly, wools, hats, and boots, but they also get out and enjoy their country.  We parked at the top of the hill and hiked all the way around to the inner bayside, then had to walk back up the streets to the top of the hill.  It was "quite grand" as the Irish would say.  

Driving for us is getting easier--most of the time.  We are almost used to the left side, and the Garmin is so helpful, but last night when  the Sisters asked us to give them a ride to a members home for Sunday night dinner , we really had a ride!  We agreed to do it, since it was only 20 minutes away but the address wasn't a sure thing and then part way the Sisters said it felt wrong, so we tried to add on the phone to help.  What a scream!  The two were close but not exactly and it made us make so many mistakes.  Finally we turned off the Garmin to use the phone and didn't realize that the big difference was the way they counted exits from the roundabouts was one number different than we were used to.  (They counted where you are as #1, the next as #2 etc.  In addition the road signs were too late to help.  The signs were right where you were supposed to be turned, not ahead at all!  Well, we drove back and forth on the motorways missing exits and starting over for an hour before we finally found a solution.  I doubt the Sisters will ask for a shorter ride in a car than the bus again.  You would think we did it on purpose!

Today along with our big job to get our Guarda Card we felt so lucky to get done that we decided to add a little adventure.  We had heard that the best way to take the day was to get your number and then take short excursions all day in and out of the building while waiting.  Since we didn't have to do that, we decided to still make the best of the location and made the nearby walk over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells.  This book is on display in the magnificent Trinity Library--which was worth the walk as well.  It cost us $10 each to see the museum displays , but it is so famous. (sorry, no photos allowed)  The preservation of the book is remarkable since it has survived Viking and Dane raiding, fires, and greed.   It is a magnificently hand decorated, hand calligraphied, copy of the four gospels.  Its pages are made on thin scraped leather and is dated back to 800 A.D.  The decorations are so symbolic and detailed, even with gold accents.   Even though it was in Latin, we could recognize a few words.  We thought it is no wonder that with so much effort put into hand transcribing, there might be errors or even deliberate changes.  It is certain that anyone who worked on it would feel a real "ownership"  of the effort.  This week when we were helping with investigator lessons, one young man asked where the Gold Plates were now.  It stands to reason that if the Book of Keels can be on display, why not the Golden Plates?   They were last seen in 1830--right?  It was a little bit of a challenge to help him believe that an angel would bring them, and then an angel would take them away.  But the important thing is not where they are now, but are they true?   A later conversation of some new members was so genuine about the topic of the truth of the Book of Mormon and the impossibility of Joseph Smith doing anything other than translating them by the power of Heaven.

As you can tell, we are alive and well--and feeling blessed.  We hope all is well at home with each of you.  Good luck as you start back to school kids!  Always be great and faithful.

Love you Loads!

 Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Pettit

Monkey Puzzle Tree

Cute little Irish tree

Secret Walled Garden

Castle

Which came first, the mill or the bridge?